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He wasn't the first gay man to be attacked, not even to be killed, but his murder galvanized many in the country to push for gay rights and anti-discrimination laws.

Why? The BBC's Gideon Long says much of it is due to the sadistic nature of the attack.

Daniel Zamudio's sadistic murder at the hands of four men has caused many Chileans, including leading presidential candidates, to push for gay rights and to condemn homophobia.

Credit:

Movilh Chile/BBC

Zamudio was walking alone in a park late at night when the men attacked him. They beat him to the ground. They kicked him. They knocked him unconscious. Then, they started to torture him — by carving swastikas into his skin, by smashing his leg with a huge rock, and then by urinating on his body before they left him for dead.

All this was describes in detail during the trial of the four men. All were convicted of murder.

The whole incident — and the response it has generated — is reminiscent of the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyo. Like Shepard's tragic story, the murder of Zamudio is changing the conversation about gay rights in Chile.